Monday, January 29, 2007

New Nordic Walking 24 Hour World Record

. Congratulations to Kari Helgasvaara, a 43 year old Nordic Walking Instructor from Finland (now based in Spain) who recently broke the unofficial Nordic Walking 24 hour World Record, previously set by German Bernd Beigl.

Kari's new World Record of 156 km in 24 hours, broke Bernd's previous best by 200 metres.

The event was organised by the city of Le Seu d'Urgell and Exel poles distributors in Spain 'OK 2 Play'. Many locals turned out to support Kari for his record attempt and some national level Spanish athletes also joined in with their poles.

In training for the event Kari focused on distances of 40 - 80 kms and he averaged 100 km a week. Kari complemented his Nordic Walking training with swimming, running and power training exercises.

The event received local media coverage from both newspapers and television. In an interview afterwards Kari said...

"24 hours of Nordic Walking is the most exhausting thing I have ever done but at the same time one of the most memorable".

After the event Kari, who lives in Oviedo, in the North of Spain returned home to continue in his more usual role of organising Nordic Walking activities for the public and leading Nordic Walking training groups twice a week. Kari has done many promotions in Spain in co-operation with INWA's (International Nordic Walking Association) Spanish member association.

This is pretty amazing! I was fascinated that Nordic Walking also has its ultra-sport manifestation and also blogged it at http://nordic-walking-usa.blogspot.com/2007/01/nordic-walking-as-ultra-sport.html, linking back to this blog and putting it into a US context.